The disclosure in U.S. Pat. No. 3,034,382 to Hazel relates to a mechanism for clinching leads inwardly only. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,055 there is shown and described a mechanism for clinching leads outwardly only. A. U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,170 discloses the Hazel type of clinching mechanism as modified to permit angular adjustment about a vertical axis. Although U.S. Pat. No. 2,940,083 relates to mechanism for optionally clinching leads inwardly or outwardly, it lacks a means for suitably shearing leads projecting from a circuit board which are then to be clinched in the selected direction. The disclosure of the latter, as well as of other available cut-clinch mechanisms hitherto known, accordingly have been useful in different embodiments but none has been found adequately versatile and of generally suitable construction.